Fintech Feminists E-Book

Nicole Casperson

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 535

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

Inspiring stories and actionable advice from highly successful women in fintech

Through a thematic table of contents, Fintech Feminists: Increasing Inclusion, Redefining Innovation, and Changing the Future for Women Around the World takes readers on a journey that unveils the profound impact of the fintech industry on our global economy, fueled by the inspiring stories of women leaders who play an integral role in reshaping the financial landscape. Written by Nicole Casperson, an award-winning journalist and leading figure in the fintech sector, this book delivers actionable strategies and insights to navigate the fintech industry, drive positive change, and contribute to the ongoing transformation of the digital era.

In this book, readers will find stories from women such as:

• Shivani Siroya, Founder and CEO of Tala, showing how she communicated her vision to investors effectively, emphasizing its market potential, social impact, and alignment with emerging industry trends
• Lule Demmissie, CEO of eToro US, explaining how she successfully navigated corporate environments by building supportive networks and advocating for diversity
• Sallie Krawcheck, Founder and CEO of Ellevest, revealing negotiation tactics that enable successful women entrepreneurs in fintech to secure funding

Fintech Feminists: Increasing Inclusion, Redefining Innovation, and Changing the Future for Women Around the World delivers a roadmap for success to women in fintech, along with all business leaders and entrepreneurs who seek to thrive in an evolving and inclusive financial landscape.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Dedication

INTRODUCTION

BECOMING A FINTECH FEMINIST

WHAT TO EXPECT

NOTES

CHAPTER ONE: WHAT THE FINTECH?

A BRIEF FINTECH HISTORY

FINTECH’S MASS ADOPTION MOMENT

ENTRANCE INTO CULTURAL CONSCIOUSNESS

REWRITING MONEY NARRATIVES

FINANCIAL ILLITERACY EXPOSED

BE A TROJAN HORSE

BITCOIN’S BRIEF GLORY

RECLAIMING MY TIME

AI: FINTECH’S NEW PARADIGM OF GROWTH

OPEN BANKING AND GENERATIVE AI

THE WOMEN WHO KICKED DOWN FINTECH’S DOORS

NOTES

CHAPTER TWO: GET IN, WE’RE RESCUING THE ECONOMY

BETTING ON BLACK

CONSUMER FINTECH IS ALIVE AND WELL

HOW WOMEN BECAME A GROWTH MARKET

HARNESSING THE POWER OF THE FEMALE DOLLAR

HOW HARD IS IT TO RAISE A SERIES B?

YOU CAN’T WAIT TO HAVE FUN

UNLOCKING THE CARE ECONOMY

AI FOR CHIEF HOUSEHOLD OFFICERS

TAPPING INTO WEALTH TECH

TEN-YEAR OVERNIGHT SUCCESS

NOTES

CHAPTER THREE: DEFYING THE ODDS

WHY WOMEN-OWNED START-UPS ARE A BETTER BET

MORE DISPARITY THAN DIVERSITY

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE VC BRO

CREATING NEW SYSTEMS AND PATTERNS

FROM OVERLOOKED TO ON TREND

INCREASE THE SWELL OF FEMALE FOUNDERS

NETWORK EFFECT

TAPPING INTO LATINA-OWNED BUSINESSES

BIRTH OF A SUPER ANGEL

INVESTING IN WOMEN’S HEALTH

NOTES

CHAPTER FOUR: FINANCIAL HEALTH IS HEALTH

NECESSITY IS THE GREATEST CATALYST FOR INNOVATION

HIDING THE VEGETABLES

UNDERSTANDING FINANCIAL BEHAVIORS

THE MEGAPHONE OF IDENTITY

EXERCISE DAILY

MAKING PERSONAL FINANCE APPS – PERSONAL

FEARLESSLY FUNDING FEMALES

MENTAL HEALTH MEETS FINTECH

PRODUCT INCLUSION – IN REALITY

FINTECH FOR THE FEMALE GAZE

NOTES

CHAPTER FIVE: COMMUNITY IS YOUR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

INVESTING IN GEN Z

RETHINKING RETIREMENT SAVINGS

BRIDGES AND TUNNELS

GROWING OUT OF BUSINESS

AN OUTSIDER’S FRESH PERSPECTIVE

MONEY CIRCLES

NOTES

CHAPTER SIX: MAKING FINANCE WORK WORLDWIDE

WHEN IN INDIA

WHY WOMEN ARE THE BEST BORROWERS

SERVING THE GLOBAL MAJORITY

NOTES

CHAPTER SEVEN: ROOT OF PROBLEMS

NO MORE BAND-AIDS

ACCESS TO DATA TO DRIVE INNOVATION DIFFERENTLY

TACKLING STUDENT DEBT – AND ITS RIPPLE EFFECTS

DEFEATING INEQUITY WITH DATA

FROM THE MILITARY TO FINTECH

NOTES

CHAPTER EIGHT: THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENS

NOT THROWING AWAY OUR SHOT

TONE AT THE TOP

PLAYING THE CARDS WE’RE DEALT

AIN’T NO HOLD ’EM

AN UNCONVENTIONAL FINTECH CEO

NOTES

CHAPTER NINE: PROGRESS IS POSSIBLE

THE NEXT ERA

CAUSE I SLAY

THE FINTECH FUTURE IS FEMALE

BUILD AS FINTECH FEMINISTS

NOTES

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

INDEX

End User License Agreement

Guide

Cover

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Dedication

Begin Reading

About the Author

Index

End User License Agreement

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FINTECH FEMINISTS

INCREASING INCLUSION, REDEFINING INNOVATION, AND CHANGING THE FUTURE FOR WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD

NICOLE CASPERSON

Copyright © 2025 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved, including rights for text and data mining and training of artificial intelligence technologies or similar technologies.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is Available:

ISBN 9781394273584 (Cloth)ISBN 9781394273607 (ePub)ISBN 9781394273591 (ePDF)

COVER DESIGN: PAUL McCARTHYCOVER IMAGE: © ANTON BRIONES

To the Fintech Is Femme community,thank you for inspiring and supporting my work over the years.Keep pushing the boundaries.

And to my dashing partner, Anton Briones,whose endless patience and supportmade this book possible.

Each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it, possibly, without claiming it, she stands up for all women.

—Maya Angelou

INTRODUCTION

“You need to choose between fintech or women, but you can’t do both.”

Those words from my editor struck me like a blow to the stomach. Why should I have to choose? Shouldn’t there be ample space for women’s narratives in our publication? Why are women’s perspectives deemed separate from the fintech beat, while men’s are not?

In my journalism career, I have devoted a decade to reporting on auto finance, mortgages, wealth management, and fintech. I have contributed to prominent business-to-business industry publications, reaching financial services professionals and influencing decision-makers in the economic system from behind the newsroom. My work has consistently aimed to inform and shape the perspectives of those leading the financial industry.

As I rose in my career from reporter to editor, I noticed a troubling trend in every newsroom: they are predominantly male led. Globally, only 22% of 180 top editors across 240 news outlets are women, despite women making up 40% of journalists in the 12 markets studied across five continents, according to research by the 2023 Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.1 Women are significantly underrepresented in editorial leadership roles and news coverage, leaving their voices muted in a global news industry still dominated by men.

This imbalance leads to skewed news coverage favoring male perspectives, neglecting the viewpoints of half the global population. Women make up only 25% of the individuals heard, read about, or seen in newspapers, television, and radio news, according to the Global Media Monitoring Project, which has tracked gender representation in the world’s news media every five years since 1995. From 2000 to 2020, women’s representation in business-related occupations in the news – like businesspeople, executives, managers, and stockbrokers – barely increased from 12% to 20%. In contrast, women’s stories are most represented in occupations like sex workers at 95% and homemakers at 68%.2

Due to this bias, stories centering on women’s perspectives are often labeled as activism or ideology and relegated to the “diversity” or “women’s” sections of online and print publications. Consequently, our daily news media predominantly reflects the male perspective, implying that women’s viewpoints are less relevant or suitable for the public’s regular consumption. This pervasive bias silences women’s experiences and insights, perpetuating a narrow and incomplete narrative in the media landscape that ignores the indispensable role women play in shaping our society.

In business media, these biases look like the false narratives fed to women about money that disregard their experiences and viewpoints. You’ve heard them before: articles that claim the pay gap is a woman’s decision, or that women don’t like to invest, or women are frivolous spenders. I can tell you that none of those ridiculous storylines are true. But media shapes the narrative, business controls the money, and when business media does not adequately cover women as the brilliant founders, innovators, investors, and leaders that they are, it perpetuates inaccuracies about women, money, and their roles as business leaders.

To change the story, we have to change the storytellers. We must learn how to be innovative entrepreneurs, investors, and CEOs by listening to and learning from the women building in fintech. Throughout this book, the stories of female leaders will rewrite the narrative with the truth: women have always played an integral role in shaping our finance and technology innovations, maybe you just haven’t read about them yet. The media has the power to shape beliefs and drive change. By accurately highlighting women’s contributions in business and finance, we can shift the narrative and ensure that women’s voices are heard, and their businesses are valued.

As a journalist, my job is to observe and critique the industries I cover. It is also my job to amplify voices that need to be heard, spread awareness, and describe perspectives that are otherwise overlooked. The lack of women’s stories in sectors so crucial to our society, economy, and culture can’t continue. To combat this, I have decided to concentrate my reporting on women-led companies while examining fintech’s future through a feminist perspective.

Women do not simply operate feminist fintech companies, and “fintech feminism” goes beyond just a “feminine” approach to fintech. Instead, “fintech feminism” critically analyzes the industry as a whole, scrutinizing how systemic flaws stem from an inequitable representation of women and the global majority. This perspective challenges the status quo and advocates for action to lead to a more inclusive fintech landscape that genuinely reflects diverse voices and experiences. Feminism isn’t exclusive to any gender or ethnicity; it advocates for social, political, and economic equality between everyone – women and men. Historically, men’s perspectives have been the default, shaping our financial system in one direction. Amplifying women’s stories, promoting women into leadership roles, and funding their businesses is crucial to creating a financial system that serves our economy in many directions. This, in turn, will help to prevent the crises and wealth disparities at the root of many current societal issues including healthcare and climate change.

Given the biased media landscape, it’s no surprise that women are underrepresented in fintech. We’ve been bombarded with stories that perpetuate outdated narratives creating cycles of systemic oppression: men lead in business, and women lead in homemaking. The reality is much more of a “yes, and” situation – it’s not mutually exclusive to be a businessperson and homemaker; in fact, most women are handling both. But when we tell stories from one perspective that present women as only one role and do not showcase their leading roles in different spaces, these stories create vicious cycles of homogeneity. The founders who receive funding secure media attention, hire their friends, and ultimately shape the structure of our economy and society. In turn, media plays a critical role in the lack of funding, equitable pay, and promotion of women in fintech as operational leaders.

As a result, the dominance of a single voice in the leadership of financial services and technology institutions has created significant gaps in innovation, increased fraud, revenue losses, and recurring economic crises. Products designed predominantly by men tend to be skewed toward male users, highlighting a critical issue: the need for a more inclusive approach to financial services. The hopeful question arises: How will financial services become more functional, equitable, and impactful for everyone when women and people of color drive the innovation?

By the end of this book, we will answer that question by showcasing that when women lead, they create financial products that cater to the unique needs of women, people of color, students, caregivers, mothers, entrepreneurs, small business owners, and underserved communities. These products address gaps in traditional financial services, promote financial inclusion, and arm a broader spectrum of society with economic independence, ultimately fostering a more resilient economy for everyone.

When people ask why I chose to dedicate my journalism career to covering fintech, my answer is simple: it’s because of the incredible women building it. Over the past decade, I’ve been inspired by female leaders who are scrappier, more flexible, innovative, and resilient than their male counterparts. Despite receiving less funding and media attention, these trailblazers are creating fintech companies that are innovative, valuable, and unlock the economy for the most underserved. They target long-overlooked demographics – small business owners, the care economy, and low-income female entrepreneurs in international markets – unlocking revenue streams and delivering social good. As I researched women in fintech for this book, a recurring pattern emerges among them: they often view their achievements or advantages as a duty to contribute to their communities. Their ethos mirrors the adage of “build longer tables, not higher walls.” No matter in the face of success or failure, they remain steadfast to sustainability and progress. Female leaders in fintech are not only reaching more communities; their actions create a ripple effect in a world where everything is connected. Women in fintech are driving significant economic activity for our global GDP, addressing climate change, solving high healthcare costs, opening access to wealth building, establishing sustainable businesses, and reshaping the financial services industry with innovative approaches. What could be more powerful than that?

This is why, after all these years, I believe fintech could be more inclusive of the global majority – and yield different results – than traditional finance or technology ever could. What truly inspires me about the fintech industry is the rise of female leaders who aren’t deterred by past financial crises. Instead, they are driven by a solid resolve to learn from the past and fix what’s broken in order to build a better future for the world.

Throughout my years of reporting, interviewing, and traveling, I’ve discovered that the most impactful leaders are driven by their first-hand experience with the challenges they address. They represent immigrants, mothers, and entrepreneurs who deeply understand the problems of their communities and are motivated to leverage fintech as the tool to create innovative solutions. It’s true what they say – necessity is the mother of invention. This drive for innovation leads to greater financial inclusion, which is a key part of broader social inclusion. After all, having access to and effectively using financial services is crucial to fully participate in our economy.

Statistics are one form of data, but so is human experience. Throughout this book, you’ll be provided with both. You’ll read about the start-up concepts that originate from the lived experiences of leading women in fintech, and be presented with the data that backs up a consistent theme of this book: diversity, in all its forms, is valuable in building successful businesses.

BECOMING A FINTECH FEMINIST

In late May 2020, as a 26-year-old reporter for a popular trade magazine specializing in investment news and analysis for financial advisors, I found myself navigating the quickly evolving fintech landscape. Among my older, predominantly male colleagues, I was the young blood in the newsroom. When investing apps surged in popularity and financial literacy went viral on TikTok during the pandemic lockdowns, my interest piqued while my colleagues dismissed these changes. They clung to the belief that the financial services industry, with its centuries-old institutions, was immutable, impervious to the whims of a pandemic or viral videos.

Our morning pitch meetings, held over video calls, often included scoffing at my suggestions that financial advisors should pay attention to social media or the growing number of retail investors using smartphone financial apps. While my colleagues overlooked the transformative impact of modern technology and social media on the financial sector, I was witnessing firsthand a phenomenon reshaping the intersection of finance, technology, and culture.

Reporting on the burgeoning influence of technology on traditional financial institutions and changing consumer expectations, I frequently found myself explaining the significance of fintech to my editor. Unlike my colleagues, I sensed early on that the blend of finance, technology, and media would spark a dramatic rise in financial education and awareness. Perhaps my time spent on TikTok allowed me to see the trends unfolding online that others missed.

To me, the fintech field was explosive, brimming with opportunities to modernize our outdated financial system and prioritize financial inclusion through advanced technology. I embraced the challenge of covering this revolution.

As the youngest, and the only female and person of color reporter on staff, I also became the unofficial go-to for stories on female leadership, social justice, and financial inclusion. Though occasionally assisted by a colleague, I felt a personal responsibility to cover these topics because I uniquely understood them from experience.

Day after day, amid pandemic-fueled lockdowns, I worked remotely in my tiny Manhattan apartment down the block from Wall Street. Being a fintech reporter during the height of COVID-19 meant writing about the collapse of our economy in real-time. Most importantly, I chose to use my fintech coverage to highlight the glaring wealth disparities the pandemic exposed between gender, race, and socioeconomic status as the first year of the pandemic knocked 54 million women (about twice the population of Texas) out of work worldwide, widening the gender gap in employment. It could take years for that gap to narrow again. Almost 90% of women who lost jobs in 2020 exited the labor force altogether, compared with around 70% of men.3

It was an economic disaster that set the progress women had made in the workforce back by generations, and the downstream impact on our economy would also be felt for years. As a reporter, I was eager to explore how fintech start-ups could harness technology to drive progress for the female workforce and the economy, especially after the setbacks they faced. I interviewed sources, gathered research material, and pitched story after story, only to have my editors approve after I covered Goldman Sachs earnings calls. While I endured doing double the work to ensure the publication covered the female perspective, it felt like the financial system was carved in stone, with front-page reporting reserved only for established incumbents, not for the agents of change.

Once again, I noticed a shift that my older male colleagues overlooked – a silver lining to the pandemic-fueled layoffs and increased household responsibilities women were subjected to due to societal norms. As more women exited the labor force, they returned to work as entrepreneurs. It was one of the most dramatic economic shifts since the pandemic. Women made up nearly half – 47% – of new business owners, up from 29% in 2019, according to data reported in 2023 by Gusto.4 This increased rate of entrepreneurship among women has continued, with women comprising 49% of new business owners in 2021 and 47% in 2022.

The steady influx of women into entrepreneurship correlates with economic shifts sparked by the pandemic. In 2020, 32% of women started new businesses because they were laid off. In 2021, 28% created businesses in response to increased childcare responsibilities. By 2022, 64% became entrepreneurs due to the need for work flexibility. The rise in women business owners is encouraging since women build businesses that better serve their employees and communities.

However, a stubborn statistic remains: only 2% of venture capital funding goes to female founders, despite women starting nearly half of all new businesses.5 This disparity has significant implications beyond the frustrations of underfunded founders, especially given the critical role financial services and fintech play as the lifeblood of our economy. To get more money into the hands of women, fintech must not only provide female entrepreneurs with the tools to grow their wealth and businesses but also ensure that women are involved in creating fintech products tailored to serve the female demographic. The future of fintech, and indeed our economy, will thrive when women are fully represented and supported in their entrepreneurial and operational ventures.

Fintech, short for financial technology, is a catch-all term for digitizing traditional financial services. Fintech is used by banks, small businesses, legacy financial institutions, and consumers, and it encompasses tasks like depositing checks, transferring money, paying bills, and applying for loans. Do you remember the last time you transferred money from your Venmo account to your bank or used tap-to-pay to buy groceries? If so, you’re using fintech – likely every day.

Fintech also represents a paradigm shift, expanding access to financial services for overlooked populations to accumulate wealth and challenging the established norms of the Wall Street-driven financial world, which has systems in place – from the FICO score to redlining – that have historically excluded women, people of color, and the 99% from achieving greater wealth.

By June 2020, covering the fintech beat without addressing societal inequities became nearly impossible. I may have been a B2B fintech reporter, but I was not going to ignore what was happening in the world and its direct impact on my beat. The murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor ignited a social reckoning, and the pandemic further highlighted deep-seated inequalities. This compelled me to communicate the significance of fintech in including communities typically excluded from the wealth-building narrative. Traditional finance has historically favored the wealthy and disadvantaged the poor, particularly women, people of color, and individuals with disabilities. For instance, how can wealth accumulation be based mainly on hard work and merit when more of the wealth acquired by new billionaires comes from inheritance rather than entrepreneurship?6 It is essential to address systemic oppression, such as racism, sexism, ableism, classism, and ageism when discussing money, finance, and technology. Business is built on relationships, finance is personal, and technology influences our culture. If you believe human issues are irrelevant in business conversations, you are missing the fundamental piece to every successful and sustainable business strategy.

By bridging finance and technology together, creating fintech, I witnessed a surge of female entrepreneurs and business leaders who recognized that placing humanity at the center of our financial systems was the key to unlocking growth.

Over time, I discovered that women leaders were centering their work on a greater purpose. These women, whether founders of fintech companies or executives at the world’s largest banks or financial institutions, were deeply passionate about reshaping a world where all people are equitably served by financial services.

Without equal female leadership, fintech faces its most devastating inadequacy – its failure to serve 50% of the global population. However, technological advancements make this disparity not just a problem; it’s an opportunity to address and narrow the pay, wealth, funding, and investing gap that women have faced for generations.

This leads me to my following observation and one of my goals for this book: we need to stop trying to “fix” women and start listening to and learning from them to fix the system. For far too long, we’ve been teaching women to “girlboss” their way to success by mimicking men. Instead of demanding that women change, we must demand that companies pay women equally. We need to ensure that female founders receive fair funding instead of being repeatedly told that their companies are too “hyper-niche” or “high-risk” or that there’s no “ROI” in investing in women. Every story and data point you’ll read throughout this book proves that just isn’t true. Research shows, over and over, that women build more profitable businesses, drive greater returns, and show stronger leadership qualities while receiving only a fraction of the money to do so. Meanwhile, male founders underperform their female counterparts despite receiving 98% of the funding year after year.

We must invest more capital in female fintech founders and develop systems where women can build start-ups, hire more women, and accumulate enough wealth to fund the next generation of female leaders. I uncovered that this goal can be achieved, in part, by rewriting the narrative.

Feeling isolated in my male-dominated newsroom, I decided it was up to me to initiate the cycle of women receiving the media coverage they deserve, enabling them to attract the funding and networking opportunities they need to succeed. Consequently, I left my secure position in traditional media and ventured into entrepreneurship, hoping not to drown.

In November 2021, I founded Fintech Is Femme, my media company, to create the change I wanted to see in both the media and fintech landscapes. I needed to prove that a feminist lens on fintech would attract a massive audience and kickstart a cycle of money flowing into the hands of more female founders in fintech.

I started writing a twice-weekly newsletter, filled with doubts. Not only was I seemingly the only independent journalist covering fintech for industry professionals (most other industry newsletters are written by former operators), but I was also the only woman, person under 30, and person of color doing it.

Insecurities flooded in at the start. I’m not a fintech operator – and people love to remind me. However, I’ve learned that what seemed disadvantageous at the start was my greatest superpower – that’s what strengthens my observations of the industry. My entire education in this field comes from conducting hundreds of interviews (I’ve lost count) with leading CEOs, founders, investors, and executives – both women and men. My insights are a cumulative reflection of their stories and perspectives.

Still, as a female-led independent publication in fintech, I often feel isolated. But I put those insecurities aside and, like clockwork, sent out a newsletter covering women-centric stories in fintech every week. Ten months later, Fintech Is Femme attracted 50 000 subscribers who loved reading my feminist perspective, insights, and news coverage on fintech. (That’s more readers than a sold-out concert at Madison Square Garden.) It turns out my former editor, and my insecurities, were wrong; I could cover fintech and women, and plenty of industry leaders found it valuable.

The newsletter evolved into my podcast, Humans of Fintech, where I’ve interviewed various fintech leaders since 2021. Many of the insights in this book come from those interviews. The podcast aims to show that your story drives your leadership, which drives your success, whether you’re a fintech founder, operator, investor, or executive leader. I release monthly episodes showcasing how the most impactful leaders in fintech use their narratives to fuel their business growth. Those stories are now distilled in this book for your reading pleasure.

As I continued to build Fintech Is Femme, plenty of people put many limitations on me. “Your content makes people uncomfortable” is the limitation that a former colleague said to me on repeat. “Can you focus more on fintech and less on women?” is another one. That criticism was the rocket fuel I needed to propel past limiting beliefs and keep going, thriving, and pushing toward my greater goal: to rewrite the narrative in fintech by covering the innovations of women-led businesses that ultimately are solving problems in our economy that have been overlooked for decades.

Given that women represent a $31 trillion economy, thrive as entrepreneurs, own more homes, earn more degrees, and consistently deliver higher revenue and ROI, investing in women is a statistical no-brainer.

I had come to learn throughout my own journey as an entrepreneur that real power is knowing you never need permission from anyone but yourself. And when you have a community of other women in your corner – there are no limitations to what you can achieve.

Almost three years into building my media company, the movement and community has grown. Fintech Is Femme’s success hinges on our core pillars:

Amplify Her Story:

You can’t be what you can’t see, and we need more people to see and hear female stories in fintech, an industry that sits at the intersection of two of the most powerful business sectors on the planet.

Share Her Blueprint:

After sharing her story, we break it down into actionable, bite-sized pieces, creating a roadmap for others to follow.

Build Her Community:

We need a supportive network of women in fintech to sustain us through successes and failures.

Following this winning strategy, Fintech Is Femme has graced billboards in Times Square, secured brand deals with the largest financial institutions in the world, hosted events across the US and globally, and I am a public speaker who uses her time on stages to spread this message far and wide: Women are the key to unlocking a better financial future for the world.

However, the most significant measure of success comes from the countless messages from women who have used insights from the Fintech Is Femme newsletter or podcast interviews to secure funding, get promoted, or land jobs in fintech. I’m incredibly proud of how many women have decided to build fintech companies because of Fintech Is Femme. This is critical – not only do women need to be finance experts, but they need to be entrepreneurs building the tools that make our economy function equitably. With the Fintech Feminists book, my ultimate goal is to mint more female founders and operators in fintech to close the wealth, pay, and investing gaps once and for all.

WHAT TO EXPECT

Fintech Feminists is more than just a book – it’s a blueprint for women in the fintech industry. The narrative delves deep into the insights necessary for building better businesses and increasing female leadership and innovation. Through a series of meticulously conducted interviews and extensive research, this book illuminates the indispensable role women play in the future of our global financial system. The women’s stories ahead will show you how female innovators in fintech are reshaping finance and redefining success, transforming the digital revolution into a goldmine for entrepreneurial success.

This book is perfect for you if you’re interested in contributing to solving financial and societal inequities by fueling our economy with innovative solutions. In preparation for Fintech Feminists, I interviewed more than 300 leaders in finance and technology and wrote hundreds of articles chronicling fintech. These women and their companies are adding value to the industry and contributing significantly to society. However, their stories have often been overlooked or simply not associated with great leadership in finance and technology. This book aims to change that narrative by highlighting these women’s exceptional qualities that correlate with outstanding leadership and innovative business models.

Throughout my reporting for this book, I found that the intersection of their personal narratives fuels their business models, leadership techniques, and funding strategies. The women in the coming chapters showcase that building profitable businesses does not come at the expense of social good – they prove that the two fuel each other.

I also discovered that women building in fintech are more likely to include varied perspectives in decision-making, which enhances their ability to empathize with colleagues and customers. These leaders often lead with vulnerability, a willingness to explore business opportunities outside the status quo, and a focus on achieving a greater purpose beyond profits. Despite their innovative approaches, these women’s contributions have frequently been underestimated and undervalued simply because of their gender. You’ll have to read the book to truly grasp the depth of their impact. The book doesn’t fully capture the diversity and the number of women leading in fintech, as there are too many for me to write about all of their incredible stories in one book – but with 36 profiles and a handful of features detailing the stories of trailblazing women in fintech, it’s a start. Whether you’re interested in learning about the pivotal role of women in digital finance, exploring the $31 trillion female economy, or seeking actionable strategies for operational and entrepreneurial success, this book is your comprehensive guide to leading in the fintech revolution.

In writing this book, I wasn’t just testing my hypothesis that women are the key to unlocking a better financial future for the world – I was also learning how to navigate the financial system better myself. The chapters ahead are organized thematically, with profiles of women interwoven with relevant research. Plus, you’ll read the story of how they have influenced fintech and my work as a journalist dedicated to covering this space.

Get ready to meet a series of fintech trailblazers, each a powerhouse in their own right, from Sallie Krawcheck, who boldly transitioned from banking to spearhead the first fintech venture by and for women, to Sheila Lirio Marcelo, the pioneering Filipina immigrant and the seventh woman to lead a company to its public debut, and Mary Ellen Iskenderian, a visionary who has steered Women’s World Banking for nearly two decades. My hope is that the strategies and stories highlighted in Fintech Feminists serve as a valuable resource for anyone, regardless of their background, looking for ways to succeed in finance and technology. The practical takeaways in this book are drawn from the real experiences of female leaders who have navigated the challenges of the fintech industry. These lessons are not just theoretical – they are proven strategies that have led to tangible success.

Remember, patriarchy allows these inequitable systems to flourish, but let me be clear: The opposite of patriarchy is not a matriarchy. Today, we live in a patriarchal society where men hold positions of dominance and privilege, but a matriarchy is an entirely different system designed to work well for everyone involved. That’s what I see for the future of fintech. With our economy and society facing widening inequities, the insights from these women are table stakes.

Fintech Feminists provides a comprehensive guide to understanding how female innovators are reshaping the future of finance. By offering a blend of practical advice, inspiring stories, and insightful research, this book is poised to be an invaluable resource for anyone looking to understand women’s integral role in the digital revolution and the future of our global financial system. Join me as we delve into these powerful narratives and discover how women in fintech are not just changing the game – they’re rewriting the rules for everyone, and we need their perspectives now more than ever.

NOTES

1.

Reuters Institute.

Women and Leadership in the News Media 2023: Evidence from 12 Markets

. Accessed May 20, 2024.

https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/women-and-leadership-news-media-2023-evidence-12-markets#header--1

.

2.

Global Media Monitoring Project.

Who Makes the News? GMMP 2020 Report

. July 13, 2021. Accessed May 20, 2024.

https://whomakesthenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/GMMP2020.ENG_.FINAL20210713.pdf

.

3.

Washington Post

“The Pandemic Is Threatening Women’s Progress. Will It Push Them out of the Workforce for Good?” Accessed May 20, 2024.

4.

Gusto. “The Rise of Women Entrepreneurs.” Accessed May 20, 2024.

https://gusto.com/company-news/the-rise-of-women-entrepreneurs

.

5.

PitchBook. “The VC Female Founders Dashboard.” Accessed May 20, 2024.

https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/the-vc-female-founders-dashboard

.

6.

UBS Global.

Billionaire Ambitions Report 2023

. Accessed May 20, 2024.

https://www.ubs.com/global/en/family-office-uhnw/reports/billionaire-ambitions-report-2023/download.html

.

CHAPTER ONEWHAT THE FINTECH?

On 15 February 1999, Time magazine featured Former Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan alongside former Treasury Secretaries Larry Summers and Robert Rubin on the cover. Big, bold yellow letters proclaimed that the trio were on the committee to save the world from a global economic meltdown.1 However, the cover also suggested that the group only prevented a global crisis for now.

That cover foreshadowed the inevitable – the 2008 global financial crisis hit less than a decade later. The collapse of investment bank Lehman Brothers on 15 September 2008 marked the ominous dawn of this era of uncertainty, sending shockwaves rippling through the global financial bedrock.2 Greenspan eventually conceded that the global financial crisis exposed a mistake in the free market ideology – trusting that free markets could regulate themselves – which guided his 18-year stewardship of US monetary policy.3

Fast forward to 24 May 2010, and this Time magazine featured a cover with three female regulators: United States Senator Elizabeth Warren, 19th Chair of the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Sheila Bair, and 29th Chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission Mary Schapiro. They were dubbed “the women charged with cleaning up the mess,” portrayed with serious expressions – tasked with addressing the aftermath of unchecked corporate greed and the systemic failure of the banking system.4

I first noticed the juxtaposition between these two covers while researching for this book. I came across a 2011 research paper by Julie Nelson, a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Boston known for applying feminist theory to questions about the definition of economics, its models, and methodology.5 Feminist economics advocates for a fuller exploration of economic data. It argues that traditional economic thought is shaped by social norms and its models and methods are biased, focusing mainly on male-associated topics and assumptions with women’s contribution to the economy routinely ignored.6 As a result, important issues like unpaid care work, unequal power relations between men and women, and labor market outcomes for women of color have been overlooked by the mostly male-dominated field. For example, mainstream economics seems to have overlooked the value of unpaid domestic and care work predominantly carried out by women in the home, which is essential to a well-functioning economy.7 GDP measurements consider the value produced through wage labor, but not through unpaid care work, which represents a contribution to the global economy of at least $10.8 trillion per year, more than three times the size of the global tech industry.8 When feminist economics is applied to the 2008 financial crisis, it makes me think of the gaps in our system and ask: Could having women in leadership roles have prevented the global financial crisis?

The heart of the problem was risk, a responsibility largely taken for granted by male Wall Street professionals and left for female regulators to manage. Author Jay Newton-Small shares in her book Broad Influence: How Women Are Changing the Way America Works, that many world leaders, including Bair, International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde, British Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, believed the global financial crisis would not have occurred if more women had held senior positions on Wall Street.9 The crisis was seen by many as a signal for Wall Street to diversify its leadership.

Then there’s the crisis that shaped the “tech” side of fintech – the 2001 dot-com bubble. This bubble saw a rapid and ultimately unsustainable surge in the value of stock market shares in internet service and technology companies, often referred to as “dot-com.” It included new businesses or start-ups with little to no profitability record or unrealistic business models, leading to the overvaluation (and subsequent crash) of Wall Street’s young internet technology industry.10

Could the popular and well-known “bro style” culture, which preferred male leadership during the 1990s tech boom and was characterized by entitlement, hubris, and risk-taking, have led to its eventual failure?11 Similar to its role in the financial crisis, this culture caused the downfall, making me wonder: If more women had held leadership roles in the tech industry back then, could they have prevented or lessened the impact of the disaster?

The dot-com bubble and the global financial crisis originated from industries that men predominantly led, and it’s not a coincidence that these industries face a crisis or crash every 10 years or so. Have you heard of the phrase: “Insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results?” When 98% of venture capital dollars go to male founders, who then predominantly hire male leaders, perpetuating a cycle that sees money continuously funneled into the next male-led start-up, ultimately leading to economic crises, it’s a classic case of insanity.

Today, these industries are still largely male-dominated, creating an environment often described as “pale, male, and stale” – a phrase used to highlight the overwhelming presence of men in these spaces for generations. While the words may elicit a quick eye-roll and an uncomfortable laugh, the missed opportunity for diversity to drive innovation has a significantly negative impact on our economy.

Before we continue, I want to be clear: this is not a book about hating men. I hope thousands of brilliant men are reading this book so they can join the Fintech Feminists movement, too. The reality is that when a single perspective dominates decision-making in industries that shape our society, it can create dangerous blind spots, stifle innovation, and close off vast areas of economic potential – it’s that simple. We’ve already seen groupthink as a commonality at the root of financial and tech failures that, unfortunately, impact the people who did not make those decisions the most. Also, none of this is a zero-sum game. As we follow women’s lead in fintech, we will all benefit from the outcomes. Closing gender gaps benefits countries and companies as a whole, not just women.

In this book, you will encounter numerous fintech pioneers launching start-ups to fill the gaps in the financial system. Many of them concentrate on meeting women’s unique financial needs, tapping into a revenue source from half of humanity that their male counterparts have historically ignored. These women identified opportunities to solve root problems in our economic system by learning from past failures, recognizing that profit and purpose are not mutually exclusive but rather mutually reinforcing. They built diverse teams because they understand innovation lives in diverse perspectives and experiences. These women are paving the way for billions of dollars in revenue to enter fintech.

What makes these women even more remarkable is how they have persevered in spite of systems that have not been so welcoming. As evidenced in the fintech industry’s own crises, fintech has inherited some “bro” cultures that have trickled down from our predecessors in the finance and technology sector, particularly in terms of funding and leadership.

Globally only 1% of total venture capital goes to fintech start-ups founded solely by women.12 As a result, female-led fintechs raise 54 cents for every dollar raised by their male counterparts. On top of that, less than 6% of CEOs and less than 4% of chief innovation or technology officers are women.13 This is a huge, missed opportunity. Fintech is uniquely positioned to drive economic change, promote equitable financial services, and boost financial inclusion for overlooked groups, many of whom are women. The commercial case is clear: by failing to identify, understand, and connect with the female market due to the lack of women in leadership, firms are leaving substantial amounts of money on the table to the tune of $700 billion, according to a 2020 analysis by Oliver Wyman.14 This glaring disparity costs our economy a lot of money, especially considering the potential for female entrepreneurship to contribute $5 trillion to the global GDP.15

These harrowing statistics are not limited to fintech but also affect our related industries that feed the fintech ecosystem. There are 4071 FDIC-insured banks, and fewer than 5% of publicly traded banks have a female CEO.16 Meanwhile, more than half of bank employees are women. Jane Fraser, who became the CEO of Citi in March 2021, is the only woman currently leading one of the 50 largest banks in the country. The percentage of women serving as CEOs in technology is roughly 17%, according to data reported in 2024.17 Women hold 8.2% of CEO positions at S&P 500 companies, or 41 out of 459 CEOs, as of 2023. Not only is that number a new record, but it also marks the first-time female CEOs outnumber CEOs with the first name John, per an analysis from Bloomberg.18

Clearly, fintech is following the lead of finance and technology a bit too closely. The problem with mimicking the spaces of our predecessors is constructing on a faulty foundation will tend to be, well faulty – it’s a flawed system to change, and we need to confront it directly and comprehend the context. Otherwise, what we build will persist in being flawed.

For example, fintech faced an industry-specific crisis that included cultural awareness with the rise and fall of the cryptocurrency sector. This was exemplified by the well-documented demise of cryptocurrency exchange FTX and its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, in 2022.19 This sent shockwaves across the industry, eroding trust in a once-hailed sector for its potential to enhance financial inclusivity and prosperity. The subsequent collapse of crypto-friendly banks, Silvergate Capital Corp. and Signature Bank, in 2023 further complicated the narrative, diverting attention from broader conversations about what blockchain technology was invented for – financial inclusion. Additionally, fintech suffered a significant blow during the banking crisis of March 2023 when herd mentality triggered a bank run, cascading into multiple bank failures within five days. Once again, these crises expose the pattern of being led by a male-dominated industry.

While these hardships bruised the fintech industry and its traction, we bounced back quickly – proving there’s still a ton of resiliency and room for growth. In fact, after years of hypergrowth – as of July 2023, publicly traded fintechs represented a market capitalization of $550 billion – the fintech industry has entered a new era of value creation, where the focus is on sustainable, profitable growth.20 To achieve our industry’s primary goal of making profits in a way that lasts and includes everyone and to prevent another economic crisis, we need to deliberately increase the number of women who lead companies and start new businesses in fintech.

Research shows the correlation between gender-diverse leadership and profitability, revealing that companies with at least 30% female leadership were 6% more profitable.21 There’s no reason to believe fintech would be an exception. If more women had led during previous financial crises and the dot-com era, we might have seen fewer “unicorns” and “too-big-to-fail” banks. Instead, we could have had a more resilient landscape with crisis-resilient banks and technology start-ups built on sustainable profitability. Our actions will determine the fate of the fintech industry and its impact on the global economy. Let us not look back 15 years from now with a new crisis under our belts as we ask ourselves: What preventions and economic advancements could be if women were leading in fintech?

For now, 2024 data from the World Economic Forum gives us a sense of the key role female representation plays in the success of the fintech industry both in executive roles and as one of the most significant growth markets we’ve ever seen. Fintech companies with more than 30% women leaders were more likely to outperform less gender-diverse companies, suggesting that fintechs can harvest competitive financial results in terms of market performance by keeping a higher-than-global-average rate of female leadership. Plus, fintech companies with female executives will experience a 12% increase in their female customer base. This positive trend extends to product offerings, with a substantial 30% increase in products designed to target female customers.22 The significance of these findings reverberates on a global scale. Fintech companies that embrace gender equality in leadership contribute to financial success and the broader goals of reducing inequalities and promoting gender equality worldwide. Ultimately, the infusion of female leadership in fintech is a game-changer, unlocking new possibilities for market performance and customer base expansion. As the industry evolves, fostering diversity at the top levels is not just a matter of representation – it’s a strategic imperative for sustained commercial success and global impact.

A BRIEF FINTECH HISTORY

One positive outcome of the past crises is the spark of innovative ideas. Many successful start-ups today, some of whom you’ll meet in the pages to come, emerged during the dot-com bubble and the 2008 financial crisis. Addressing economic exclusion will take time, but the innovators in this book will show how you, as a reader, can play a pivotal role in closing wealth gaps while building profitable businesses. This book provides a blueprint for achieving that type of success in fintech.

Before we delve into those insights, it’s important to revisit the history of the fintech industry so that we understand how to shape its future. Several historical events have led to the fintech industry evolving from operating behind the scenes to becoming a significant part of cultural consciousness.

Fintech, short for “financial technology,” refers to any digital services consumers use to manage their money. These services include online banking, payments, investing, savings, budgeting, borrowing, education, and goal-setting. The industry is massive, and while I will not be able to cover every moment of history or innovation that has led us to where we are today, consider this a concise version. I’ve compiled this history based on the standout headlines I’ve written while reporting on fintech as part of my journalism beat.

The origins of fintech can be traced back to several historical moments. In the nineteenth century the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) installed a specialized form of teleprinter known as a stock ticker to transmit financial orders.23 Then, in September 1958, Bank of America mailed 60 000 credit cards to consumers in Fresno, California, revolutionizing the way people conducted financial transactions.24 By October 1959, more than two million credit cards had been issued in California alone. The introduction of the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) by Barclays in 1967 further transformed banking by providing customers with access to cash and basic banking services outside of regular banking hours.25

However, the true intersection of banking and technology, or the fintech we are familiar with today, began in the internet era. Digital banking emerged in the 1990s, with Wells Fargo launching wellsfargo.com in 1994 and becoming the first bank in the US to offer free internet access to checking account balances in 1995.26 This allowed consumers to manage their finances from anywhere with internet connectivity and a computer.

Subsequently, PayPal, founded in 1998, pioneers peer-to-peer payment processes for goods and services.27 In 2000, Roy Fielding and a group of experts invented the Representational State Transfer Framework (REST), which became a standard for allowing two servers to communicate and exchange data. Thus, it changed the way computer applications communicated and altered the application program interfaces (APIs) landscape, laying the groundwork for fintech.28

These technology advancements coupled with learning lessons from the financial crisis made one of the goals of fintech to lower the costs of providing more personalized and extensive banking and wealth management services to a broader audience – the everyday consumer – not just the wealthy 1%. This would drive market growth for businesses, and bring more women, people of color, and other overlooked demographics into the mainstream of the global financial system, stimulating more economic activity. As fintech has contributed to achieving this goal, the industry’s value has increased. This growth is driven by rapid consumer adoption, with businesses and small and medium-sized enterprises increasingly turning to fintech for banking and payments, financial management, financing, and insurance.

Fintech came into its own after the 2008 financial crisis, when traditional banks and financial institutions faced new regulations with the formation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau following repeated crises, prompting an overhaul of the banking industry. At the same time, society was rapidly progressing, thanks to the widespread use of the internet and smartphones. These devices have become the primary means of accessing the internet and using various financial services, allowing millions worldwide to access financial services via mobile applications. This set the stage for the emergence of a new wave of fintech companies that challenged the banks. As the banks and incumbent financial institutions dealt with the aftermath of the crisis, it left an opening for fintech founders – many of whom were former Wall Street employees turned entrepreneurs as a result of the financial crisis – to unbundle the banks’ services and build tech start-ups that offered singular pieces of the banking experience, becoming best-of-breeds while breaking down financial services into different tech sectors.

Early fintech brands emerged, like SoFi in 2011, for example, which started as a student loan refinancing platform to provide more affordable options for those taking on debt to fund their education. In payments, start-ups like Square, Stripe, Toast, Plaid, and Wise have made transferring money internationally easier and less expensive. Companies such as Lending Club, Revolut, and Kabbage gained attention and market share in credit. Insuretechs (insurance technology) like Goji and Root made inroads in the insurance market, while robo-advisers from Betterment, Wealthfront, and Ellevest attracted customers with low-cost, algorithm-driven investing advice.

Even big tech companies like Apple and Google have stepped into fintech – wanting their piece of the pie with Google Wallet launching in 2011 and Apple Pay following suit in 2014. Today, large fintech players, primarily the neobanks, are now rebundling financial services by offering banking, savings, personal loans, auto insurance, mortgages, and investing – thus becoming like a bank itself. In fact, in 2024, fintech SoFi became the official bank of the National Basketball Association (NBA).29 Even Apple teamed up with Goldman Sachs as its banking partner to venture into consumer credit card issuing and start bundling banking services with the launch of the Apple Card but terminated the agreement in 2023.30

Fintech companies have been disruptive because they can innovate and differentiate. Their agility in using new technologies to anticipate and solve customer needs sets them apart, as legacy systems and processes do not burden them. Throughout my reporting, I observed that these fintech start-ups do not disrupt their industry in the way that, say, Uber disrupted the transportation sector or Netflix disrupted movie-going. Instead, fintech carves out value propositions in unique niches among and between much larger players in financial services. For fintech entrepreneurs, it’s not just about surviving in the shadow of financial giants like Citigroup, Vanguard, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. It’s about comprehending their strategies, spotting gaps in the market, and devising ways to enhance value for these incumbents. This strategic comprehension is a key to survival and a pathway to success in the competitive fintech landscape. Collaboration is crucial in the rise of fintech as the banks rebounded from the financial crisis, and we stepped into the next era.

A key advancement that enabled more companies to offer financial services to more people is the rise of banking-as-a-service, or BaaS – a model in which financial institutions provide access to their core banking functions through APIs. This enables third-party businesses to build their own financial products without needing to become banks. Fintech companies no longer need to be specialists to offer traditional financial services as long as they have a bank partner to provide that expertise. On the other hand, tech-savvy legacy banks can fend off the encroaching threat of fintechs by moving into the BaaS space to share their data and infrastructure. Research conducted in the past year found that 77% of fintechs and banks reported an increase in correspondent banking relationships, where infrastructure is provided for fintechs to support their own products.31 Today, BaaS continues to grow, allowing traditional banks, insurers, and wealth managers to reach a wider range of customers at a lower cost by partnering with non-financial businesses. Consumers increasingly use these platforms to access e-commerce, travel, retail, health, and telecom services. For example, a financial service could be someone taking out a small loan when paying for a holiday on a travel site or instantly calculating and selling micro-insurance for newly purchased luxury clothes.